Talking APIs Up At California State University Channel Islands

30 Jan 2015

I spent the day yesterday up in Camarillo, at California State University Channel Islands (CI). Half my time I spent speaking with a mix of folks from the campus tech team about APIs, and the other half I spent learning about video production at the university. I wanted to thank , Chris Mattia (@cmmattia) Director of Academic Technology, CSU Channel Islands, Michael Berman (@amichaelberman) VP Technology & Communication, California State University Channel, Mikhail Gershovich (@mgershovich) for having me up.

The conversation I had with their tech team around APIs reflected other conversations I’ve been having with other higher educational institutions. It was a mix of business and technical talent from the school, ranging from instructional technologists, to front-end, and backend data people. The spectrum of personalities range from the API literate, to API curious, and of course the API skeptic—which demonstrates their is a healthy balance to the tech team the university, in my opinion.

I walked everyone through the history of APIs, and showcased a couple of the other universities putting APIs to work, then I just opened up the conversation to the technology, business, and politics of APIs on campus. The leadership at Channel Islands can see the potential of APIs, but just like every other sensible institution, they have to cautiously evaluate where the low hanging fruit is, get some small API wins, before tackling any larger API projects.

These types of conversations are something I will be encouraging more of in 2015, and I’m looking to bring together the 10 institutions I’ve had discussions with so far together for an API event, while also opening up invitation other institutions who might want to participate. If you would like to jump start an API discussion at your higher education institution, please let me know.